1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to the field of soldering processes for connecting electrical components to printed circuit conductors.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Much work has been done in recent years to improve the processing approach for soldering surface mounted devices and integrated circuits to printed circuit board conductors.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,139,881; 4,164,778; and 4,208,005, processing techniques are described in which surface mounted components, each having a pair of conductive terminal ends, are attached to a printed circuit board surface with an adhesive prior to subjecting the components to the soldering process.
The NASA publication TMX-64937 by Caruso et al entitled "Investigation of Discrete Component Chip Mounting Technology for Hybrid Microelectronic Circuits" discloses that low temperature solder paste or conductive epoxy could be used to connect the electrical terminal ends of the surface mounted component to the respective printed circuit conductors.
In each of the above methods of attachment, it has been noted that slippage sometimes occurs during placement of the component on the board due to the displacement and spreading of the glue or solder paste. Such slippage results in misalignment of the component with regard to the printed circuit conductors as well as a poor physical and electrical connection which lowers the yield of the printed circuit boards produced during the process.